Can meat loaf spoil your advertising?

As I watch the Olympics, I love watching the ads because my brain never leaves the marketing mode. I am constantly amazed at the technology used, the creativity and the frequent waste of money by many advertisers. How often do you watch an ad and have no idea what product or company is being sold?

Advertising is always a gamble. You can never be sure an ad will work until it runs. However, you can increase likelihood of good results by learning a marketing lesson from one of the largest companies in the world. It’s a great lesson what not to do for small business owners who are thinking about using media advertising.

Meat Loaf in Advertising

I have some observations on an ad that I really enjoyed watching. It features rock icon Meat Loaf (born Michael Lee Aday)? His album Bat Out of Hell, released in 1977, has sold close to 40,000,000 copies and was on the charts for over 9 years. He is the guy playing the dad in this commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7MG-FU43a4.

You see Meat Loaf as a dad whose son is singing a ballad to him to get him a cell phone and promising that he won’t run up the minutes. I personally like Meat Loaf and his music a real lot and I think the commercial is pretty cool with a very catchy tune that pulls some great lyrics and riffs from Meat Loaf’s song Paradise By The Dashboard Light.

What the heck is this commercial about?

The other afternoon, I heard the commercial and started singing the tune in my head and realized I had seen it several times and could not think of the company or brand of the phone! I know this was a pretty pricey production because in addition to Meat Loaf, Tiffany is in the commercial and they are definitely fairly expensive talent to hire.

I did an informal survey of friends and also asked subscribers to my Marketing Moments e-zine if they recalled the ad, which they did, and if they recalled the product, which they didn’t. People recalled the chorus of the song “I’ll love you to the end of time” but not Go Phone.

After all of the effort and money that went into the commercial, I couldn’t relate a brand or a product to the ad! I kept an eye out for the next airing and saw it was for the AT&T Go Phone. Think of all the resources that went into creating the spot. That doesn’t even include the price of prime time airings of the spots.

Why did they waste so much money?

They got a lot of things right like using celebrity endorsements, a good tune and an entertaining production. But it really made me wonder, why couldn’t I think of the company or the product? What was the point of the ad? We can probably assume it was to “build the brand” of the phone but it failed miserably in building anything I would even remember. That is the core message for you, brands don’t make you money, customers do.

What could they have done differently? What would you have done, particularly if you had some real creative ad folks in front of you doing a big sell job? Would you select this type of ad or an ad that has less glitz but does a better job of selling your product.

How could this ad be improved?

To improve the ad, you would focus more on the product instead of the production. For another, you would want to add a special offer with a deadline to buy the phone or direct consumers to a Web site to download the video and a special offer coupon.

What if they included a toll free number, 1-800-MeatLoaf, to call and get a special offer and find out how to download the song to iTunes or even the ring-tone? What about a contest where the winner wins a dinner with Meat Loaf? The marketing folks could track response and the ROI on the ad. Other winners could get the phone and a Bat Out of Hell CD.

Creativity was more important than response

But instead, the focus was all on creativity and entertainment. I’d bet the ad will even win an award but I still think an ad should be written to sell your products now, not build a brand or win awards. My guess is that you can’t afford Meat Loaf in your ads but remember, when you do advertise, remember it’s about making money, not building your brand.

Brands don’t put food on the table, sales do. When you spend money on marketing, you should work with someone who’s goal is to make you money, not just earn a commission by selling you creativity and air time.

Your marketing should do three things
1. Get clients
2. Retain clients
3. Service clients

Go ahead and think about branding but in the context of the above three rules. However, make the strength of your brand be a result of your reputation of providing phenomenal products and services. Build your brand using marketing that creates sales, leads, referrals and testimonials. It is just as costly to get your name out there with a compelling offer and reason for a client to buy from you now as it is to only focus on getting your name out there with no results for your investment.

The bottom line difference is the ROI. The Meat Loaf commercial offers no way to measure the ROI. Your small businesses can’t afford to throw scarce marketing dollars up against the wall and guess at the ROI. It may seem obvious but the essence of this marketing tip is that your ads should deliver sales or leads. Any benefits beyond those (like branding) are icing on the cake.

Change the way you look at advertising

Here is a powerful tip when it comes to a brand-building: Change the way you view your ads. See them as an investment instead of as an expense. If your financial planner came to you with an idea to spend $10,000 on an investment, you’d think, “What’s the potential return?” because she is your financial planner.

Use the same standards when you are talking to marketing, advertising and media reps. Ask the question: “What is my projected return and how does it compare to other marketing investments?” If they tell you your return is x-thousands of impressions, ask them which impression will put money in your pocket? How much of your target market are they reaching. In the case of the Meat Loaf ad, there’s an impression, but of what and to whom?

If they have to explain what it means to you, your prospect won’t get it either!
If an agency or media rep gives you an advertising concept and has to explain what it means, then your prospects won’t get it either. If they tell you it will get your name out there, lock your checkbook in the safe.

Are media ads one of your small business marketing tools? If so, make sure they make you money and that you can measure results. If the results are good, build on your success. If they are poor, then make changes but don’t ever fall into the trap of thinking it was a success because you got your name out there! Your name doesn’t generate buying emotions or desires, your benefits do (Speaking of buying emotions, I strongly recommend the book Motivational Marketing by Robert Imbraile as a resource on buying emotions).

Now, back to the headline – Meat Loaf can be a great way to advertise!

How would you use Meat Loaf in your marketing? What do you think about the ad? Am I off base with my analysis? Should it have run like it was? Whichever way you feel, I hope I got you thinking a bit differently about the purpose of media marketing.